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| Archived Features |
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| Stammering ...And How To
Overcome It |
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Ajit
Harisinghani
MS(USA), CCC-Sp.(USA) Speech
Therapist,
www.speechfoundation.com
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There are more than 45 million
people in the world today who stammer and approximately 10
million live in India. Stammering is predominantly a 'male'
condition (80% of all stammerers are male) and it usually
affects the first-born male child. The majority of stammerers
(65%) have a family history of the disorder; usually the
father who stammers or speaks at a rapid rate. Nearly always,
stammering starts before the child is 5 years of age. If left
untreated, it peaks in severity around the age of 10 to 18
years and then begins to stabilize or fade away as the
stammerer grows older.
A stammerer knows precisely what
he wants to say but cannot, for the moment, say it because of
an involuntary repetition, prolongation or cessation of the
speech sound. Research suggests that the disorder might be
caused due to a 'neurological mistiming' during the act of
speech which leaves the stammerer confused about when exactly
to say the word he wants to say. Speaking is not merely the
movement of the tongue but involves a fine coordination of
both mental and physical processes. Like all other physical
actions, the act of speech is the result of neuro-muscular
coordination which involves the transmitting of
electro-chemical messages from the brain to the appropriate
muscle groups. For everyone of us (non-stammerers and
stammerers alike), this neuro-muscular system sometimes trips
and fails especially during moments of inadequate emotional
control. For the stammerer, this 'tripping' occurs much more
frequently than it does for normal speakers. Whenever he faces
what he perceives as a 'feared' situation, the stammerer
adopts a mind-set which triggers off spasms of speech-blocks.
Such fears can also center around certain speech sounds or
even certain people.
Actually, all stammerers have
periods of fluency when they are emotionally relaxed but
revert back to dysfluent speech under stress. Answering the
roll call in class, speaking on the telephone, talking to
someone in authority, speaking in a group, attending a job
interview, etc. are some such pressure situations which might
cause an increase in stammering behavior.
One more of
the unusual facts about stammering is that even the severest
stammerer can sing fluently without any speech blocks. This is
because when we sing a song, we know exactly when to say the
words and there is no ambiguity in our minds about this
timing. In conversational speech however, we cannot bank on
any such cues but as normally fluent speakers, most of us do
not need these cues. However, without these cues, a
stammerer's speech becomes disoriented, because of his
'wrongly tuned' neurological speech-timing system. He
experiences difficulty in maintaining a smooth forward flow of
words in the sentences he speaks. Frequently repeated, these
instances of stammering arouse fear in the mind of the child
who stammers. With growing years, these fears keep snowballing
until the stammerer begins to experience tremendous
frustration, anxiety, shame, embarrassment, even guilt every
time he opens his mouth to speak. He begins to recoil from
speaking. The smirks on the faces of his listeners which his
speech sometimes elicits do nothing to help his self
confidence. In every other respect, except speaking ability,
the stammerer is a completely normal human being, as good or
bad as the rest of us. In fact most stammerers are sensitive
and intelligent people.
Some psychiatrists might
prescribe tranquilizers in the belief that relieving stress
would help speech fluency. Such drugs usually complicate,
rather than resolve the issue and are strongly de-recommended
for the treatment of stammering by most speech
pathologists.
Dr. Peter Rosenberger, M.D., Director,
Learning Disorders Unit at Harvard Medical School, Boston says
"Since the increase in stammering during anxiety is a common
experience, it might be assumed that drugs that relieve
anxiety would be beneficial. However, minor tranquilizers have
been tried many times without success".
Hypnosis has
also shown unpromising results in the treatment of stammering.
A few stammerers who might become fluent while under a trance
invariably return to stammering when out of the hypnotic
state. Yoga and meditation might really hold the key to
solving the problem of stammering. With the greater sense of
emotional and intellectual balance that these disciplines
promote, the stammerer might find them of tremendous help in
his attempts to develop better control over his
speech.
These are aspects that can be changed through
self-therapy to help the person overcome his speaking
difficulty. Speech is one of our body's strongest habits and
stammered speech is also a habit. Stammering is not a disease
and therefore, it cannot be treated through medicines. The
stammering child or adult has to be helped to develop a new,
more fluent manner of speech through an intensive
re-orientation program which focuses on modifying his physical
manner of talking as well as changing his mental attitude
towards the problem.
Many of us might experience a
feeling of embarrassment when we converse with stammerers;
some of us look away while others go ahead to complete their
sentences for them. In talking with a stammerer, the following
hints might be of help:
- Listen to what is said, not how it is said.
- Be patient and don't hurry the person talking.
- Try to maintain natural eye contact.
- Simplistic advice ("breathe properly", "don't worry",
"don't be afraid", etc.) though well- meant is not always
helpful.
- Stammerers have difficulty when talking but don't assume
they are stupid or confused about what they are saying.
- Many stammerers have difficulty when they speak on the
telephone. Please do not hangup if the caller is taking
longer than usual or if he is silent for a
while.
Stammerers usually try and hide
their speech problem from their listeners. This attempt at
camouflage is counter-productive because it only acts as
psychological 'fuel' for even more speech-blocks. If the
stammerer is open about his speech difficulty, he experiences
lesser stress and is able to speak with greater
control.
In the final analysis, stammering can be
overcome if the sufferer seeks scientific, professional
guidance and is ready to work towards achieving speech fluency
through regular practice of therapeutic techniques. It
certainly cannot disappear by ingesting some magic
potent! |
| Last updated: 03 January,
2002 |
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